My First Mash! Pictures and all!
 

Hey there all. This will be my first attempt to Mash. I am Batch sparging so I'm attempting to do an All Grain Mash with two pots as seen on the SockMonkeysAndBeer page.

Certainly all things start with a starter:)

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...0-100_0470.jpg
Like this one. This actually started real fast.... like 90 minutes.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...0-100_0471.jpg
It stayed pretty active for about 18 hours or so, but did not go crazy on me.


More to come!

Nice starter...........I was ready to see pics of grain.................

Here it is.....
 

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...0-100_0472.jpg
Here is the setup, kinda like some of yours:)

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...0-100_0473.jpg
Here is that cooler I screwed up. Its a HWT now. I like the lid (you just push it closed) and wish the MLT closed like this does (screws on).

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...0-100_0478.jpg
Well... looks more like goop right now......

Your making beer............Make sure you drink enough while your mashing.......A proper mash takes at least 8-10 good home brews while your waiting......

Damm... got em in the fridge... totally forgot.....

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...0-100_0480.jpg
For all those bright souls like me thinking... why do I need one of those big ugly spoons just for a mash... I'll just use the one I have....

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...0-100_0482.jpg
I took some grain out to boil cause the temp apparently went very low... like... 148 according to the probe.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...0-100_0481.jpg
Another shot of the grain with some out boiling in a small pot.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/...0-100_0483.jpg
Got the glass thermometer in there now as I am starting to question the probe... not sure...

Well.....
 

The glass themometer says I'm great... the probe says I'm screwed. Right now the probe is reading 178 and the thermometer is reading 158.:mad:

But I'm drinking a brew now at least....:tank:

I think I'm good. According to the probe the air temp in the kitchen is 105 which looks off just a bit. Gonna take it back to target later.

Impressive set up. What happened to your spoon?

I had a spoon like that until I used it in my kettle. It is now a ladle,lol.

Those probes are tricky. The problem with them is, if you submerge them beyond the sleeve where the wire braid goes into the probe, you get water lodged in them and their calibration is done for. I went through three before I read about this little trick:

Place the probe in the oven and hang the plug-in outside the oven door. Let it 'bake' at ~250-325oF for an hour or so, thus driving out any moisture. Plug it into the control every once in awhile to see what the temperature reads. Once it's fairly consistant and near your oven's chosen temperture, take it out and check the ambient air temperature. You should be good to go!

I ended up with two probes and I do this before every other brew session, just for safety's sake. Works every time! My probes are within 1-2 degrees of each other. If one goes kaput, I have the backup. That's saved my a** a couple of brew sessions!:D Give it a try before you head to Tarchet!